Introduction There are many luxurious hotels in the South-East Asia region, but few can compare with the Penang Mutiara, a 440-room top-of-the-market hotel which nestles in the lush greenery of Malaysia's Indian Ocean Coast. Owned by Pernas-OUE of Malaysia and managed by Singapore Mandarin International Hotels, the hotel's General Manager is under no illusions about the importance of running an effective operation. 'Managing a hotel of this size is an immensely complicated task,' he says. 'Our customers have every right to be demanding. They expect first-class service and that's what we have to give them. If we have any problems with managing this operation, the customer sees them immediately and that's the biggest incentive for us to take operations performance seriously. Our quality of service just has to be impeccable. This means dealing with the basics. For example, our staff must be courteous at all times and yet also friendly towards our guests. And of course, they must have the knowledge to be able to answer guests' questions. The building and equipment - in fact all the hardware of the operation - must support the luxury atmosphere which we have created in the hotel. Stylish design and top-class materials not only create the right impression but, if we choose them carefully, are also durable so the hotel still looks good over the years. Most of all, though, quality is about anticipating our guests' needs, thinking ahead so you can identify what will delight or irritate a guest.' The hotel tries to anticipate guests' needs in a number of ways. For example, if guests have been to the hotel before, staff avoid having to repeat the information they gave on the previous visit. Reception staff simply check to see if guests have stayed before, retrieve the information and take them straight to their room without irritating delays. Quality of ser- vice also means helping guests sort out their own problems. If the airline loses a guest's luggage en route to the hotel, for example, he or she will arrive at the hotel understandably irritated. 'The fact that it is not us who have irritated them is not really the issue. It is our job to make them feel better.' Speed, in terms of fast response to customers' requests is something else that is important. 'A guest just should not be kept waiting. If a guest has a request, he or she has that request now so it needs to be sorted out now. This is not always easy, but we do our best. For example, if every guest in the hotel tonight decided to call room service and request a meal instead of going to the restaurants, our room service department would obviously be grossly overloaded and

1. critically, demonstrate how you think the hotel's Top management will:

Ensuring that the way it manages the hotel is suitable to the way it competes for business; [2.5]

Implementing any change in strategy; [2.5]

Developing its operation so that it drives the long-term strategy of the hotel. [2.5]

2. This case study describes how quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost impact on the hotel's external customers. Critically, demonstrate how each of these performance goals might have internal benefits. [5]